Main story: Night Out brings police and kids together

Annual event promotes camaraderie between the cops and the community

By Marty Cheek

About 500 Gilroy residents gathered for three hours at the civic center paseo Tuesday Oct. 4 evening to enjoy a National Night Out event and meet local first responders.

The annual event promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make the city a safer and more caring place to live and work, said Police Chief Pedro Espinoza. It included music, dance, and theater performances and fun interaction between families, cops and firefighters.

Mayor Marie Blankley thanked  the Gilroy Police Department and various community partners for sponsoring what she called “one of the best National Night Out events ever.”

“I enjoyed talking and laughing with residents and meeting children of all ages, and listening to words of joy and support for the community that we all know and love as Gilroy and for which we all hurt in hardship,” she said. “National Night Out brings out togetherness, and together we find the path to looking beyond appearances, be they situational or individual.”

Espinoza said the event helps police officers build an encouraging relationship with children.

“We often use (the police) as a fear tactic for kids and say, ‘If you don’t do XYZ, I’m going to call the police.’ That’s really not our role,” he said. “We want people to look at us as someone who will do whatever possible to be a positive part of the community. This is our opportunity to have people talk to us and get to know us beyond the badge.”

National Night Out is held the first Tuesday in August in most American cities. Gilroy changed to the October date in 2019 because of the Garlic Festival mass shooting that happened a few days before, Espinoza said.